don’t get pregnant in August

Once upon a time, ten years ago in fact, I was pregnant with my second child. Oh I was so excited that I was going to have a spring baby this time. The first one was born in the dead of winter and I felt so cooped up in the house. But this baby would be different! We would go on lovely walks and lay on a blanket in the shade of beautiful spring days. She was born the week before Mother’s Day. I came home from the hospital with her the day before Mother’s Day. And I’m sure I got something nice for a gift that Mother’s Day but I was still in a sleep-deprived, painful (from the c-section), drug-induced sort of fog.

And that should have been my first clue. Because since that lovely spring when we brought home a child that is as dear to my heart as gold, Mother’s Day has never been quite the same. More than half the time there really is no such thing as Mother’s Day really. Oh, sure I’ll get some handmade gifts and cards from the kids – all of which I’ll save and surely shed tears over later in life. But the idea of a day just for mom? A day where I pick all the meals, get waited on hand & foot, am allowed to shut the door for some peace & quiet. Ummmm…. that just doesn’t happen most years. Because most years Mother’s Day weekend is also E’s Birthday Weekend.

This year her birthday is the day after Mother’s Day but since there is so much going on that day we are celebrating Birthday Eve (aka Mother’s Day). So she has picked the dinner and homemade cake and I’ll spend my Mother’s Day cooking & baking. Just add it to the list of things I’ve given up as a mother:

– a face without under eye circles
– a good night’s sleep
– going to the bathroom in complete privacy
– Mother’s Day pampering

And for the record… that spring of 2001 we went on plenty of walks – mainly because the sound of her crying in the great outdoors was less grating than the sound of it reverberating off the walls of our house. We also laid on blankets in the shade – and she still cried. I should have been more wary of that early May due date.

(luckily the kid was all we hoped for – once she stopped crying anyway – check out her birthday interview next week and you’ll probably agree, she’s one cool kid.)